


arrows fall out of thin air

by keplcrs



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Hurt No Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Last Words Soulmate AU, M/M, Mutual Pining, and if you couldnt tell theres also, both of those, pining?, uhhhh i wrote this a really long time ago and im just posting it now, written before season 3 so dont take the last two seasons into account, yeah. pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-14
Updated: 2017-10-14
Packaged: 2019-01-17 08:27:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12361662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keplcrs/pseuds/keplcrs
Summary: Printed neatly across his left wrist are the words, “I’m so sorry, Keith.” The ink- is that ink? Keith isn’t sure, since it looks like ink but it never fades from his arm. Whatever it is, though, it contrasts starkly against his pale skin, making his tattoo stand out far more than he’s comfortable with.or, Keith doesn't understand soulmates until he's forced to.





	arrows fall out of thin air

**Author's Note:**

> i am not Super into voltron anymore but this has been sitting in my google docs since march and i was so proud of it back then so! here it is. 
> 
> its mostly unedited and i dont feel like i have a very good grasp on their characters anymore but anyways.
> 
> title is from 'stay' from amelie (the musical)

Keith has never understood the purpose of soulmate tattoos. “What’s the point,” he says to Shiro, once, as they sit in the Garrison library, “of knowing what your soulmate’s  _ last  _ words to you are going to be? Wouldn’t it be more practical to, you know, have their first words to you?” 

Shiro pushes a textbook across the table and tells Keith to keep studying, his own notes spread across the surface. Keith bites back a comment about not having any space to put his own notes- then, Shiro would make room for them and Keith didn’t actually  _ have _ notes. The thought distracts him well enough that he barely catches the tail end of Shiro’s hushed lecture on being quiet. “You don’t need to get kicked out of the Garrison because you won’t shut up about your soulmate tattoo.” Keith wouldn’t mind getting kicked out, actually, because the Garrison is strict and overbearing and they have this weird in-between opinion on whether or not aliens exist- they do, Keith is sure of it, but the Garrison only tells him to shut up when he speaks out about it. Still, Shiro had put weeks of effort into getting him into the academy, and he didn’t particularly want to disappoint the only semblance of family he had left.

“There is literally no use for them,” he continues, blatantly ignoring the look that the older male is giving him. His sleeve is rolled up, and he gestures to his own arm for reference, arms flailing a bit. He’s sure that Shiro can’t even see the tattoo, but thanks to Keith’s apparent obsession with it, he probably has the words memorized. Keith certainly does. Printed neatly across his left wrist are the words,  _ “I’m so sorry, Keith.” _ The ink- is that ink? Keith isn’t sure, since it looks like ink but it never fades from his arm. Whatever it is, though, it contrasts starkly against his pale skin, making his tattoo stand out far more than he’s comfortable with. He pulls his sleeve back down, flipping idly through the textbook in front of him, and he keeps talking. “Like, honestly. Shiro, tell me, what is this even supposed to mean?” He knows for a fact that Shiro’s isn’t any less cryptic. Something about winning a war, if he can remember correctly. “The universe just wants to give us something extra to angst over!” He can feel Iverson’s glare on the back of his neck, then, seemingly trying to scorch him through the thick curtain of dark hair, and opens the blank notebook in front of him with a grumble. 

 

===

 

Amidst the battles and the training and the overwhelming stress of the universe’s expectations, Keith somehow managed to forget about soulmates. Fate didn’t seem so real when every day is a fight for their lives. They’re pulling through on their own skill and the power of their lions, and destiny has no presence in their battles, so why should Keith care to remember what it wrote on his arm? He no longer sees them as often as he used to, keeping them covered as much as possible with his armor or his gloves. He doesn’t want to think about them, anyway. He’d had enough of a scare when Shiro had disappeared, convinced and torn apart over the idea that the older male had been his soulmate. ( _ “Sorry, Keith,” _ had been Shiro’s last words to him before Kerberos, actually, but Keith had been young and the news of Shiro’s disappearance had rendered him panicky and reckless. They’d been basically brothers, and he’d been under the impression that he had found out that Shiro was both his soulmate and dead in the same sentence. So he’d bought the gloves, covered the words, and stopped trying to keep himself in check. The Garrison had expelled him a mere month after the Kerberos mission failure had been announced.) Besides, Shiro had come back. His parting words this time had borne no resemblance to the ones inked on Keith’s inner arm, so it didn’t matter anymore.

 

In retrospect, the ignorance was a blessing. 

 

It takes them months to locate Shiro, and nearly as long to find a way to rescue him. It’s good for team building, Allura tells them, trying to lift their spirits, but they all could tell with ease that she was forcing her cheery tone for their sakes. Pidge hadn't even been listening, shoveling food into her mouth as she worked to locate both Shiro and her brother, having broken Allura’s rule about having tablets during meals– put in place to encourage ‘team bonding.’ Lance thanks her quietly, since no one else seems to be speaking, and they all fall silent again. In that time, without Shiro, Keith finds himself forging closer bonds with the rest of the paladins. Perhaps it’s the need to pass the time, so that he can do something other than wreck himself in the training room. Perhaps it’s because finally,  _ finally, _ he’s been forced to take Shiro’s words to heart and learn to lead Voltron. (He tried to pilot the Black Lion for a while. Lance takes a turn in Red and they get Coran in Blue. It doesn’t work out so well, and eventually the two paladins switch back to their respective lions and let Allura take control of Black. They don’t form Voltron at all.) While he’s upset about losing Shiro for the second time, Keith has to admit that it's nice to be able to call more than one person his friend. He helps Hunk in the kitchens, sometimes– “I’m stressed, I need something to do, and Lance will only eat so much,” Hunk tells him. Keith is content to sit on the counters and listen to Hunk talk about home. Pidge nags Keith until he lets her install upgrades in his lion, giving Red a cloaking mechanism and a few other functions that Keith hadn't been able to catch, with the speed that the smaller paladin had been speaking.

 

Then, there’s Lance. Lance, too, becomes someone that Keith can call a friend, if not more. Their rivalry seems secondary to everything that has happened, and, if he’s honest, Keith never really understood why Lance had been so obsessed with it. They don’t talk it through, exactly, but they seem to come to a mutual understanding that too much rests on their shoulders for them to be competing at every turn. Instead of adversaries, they become close companions. He finds, much to his surprise, that, for all the time that he spends talking, Lance is actually a good listener. He explains that it’s the product of being a big brother to so many, when Keith asks him. There’s a tinge of homesickness in his words that Keith can’t relate to, so he doesn’t point it out. He doesn’t talk about much of anything, really, in response to Lance’s stories. He mentions Shiro, a few times, and has to physically stop himself from crying. Lance doesn’t bother to do the same, rambling about Earth and home with a level of emotion that Keith has never let himself exhibit. It warms his heart, in an odd sort of way, to know that Lance is opening up to him. It’s not as if Lance isn’t an open person or anything, because he  _ is _ , but somehow he still manages to make Keith feel like he’s something special. Keith wishes he could do the same, but it had taken years for him to start confiding in Shiro, and the two had grown up together. He hopes, though, that, in time, he can begin to open up to Lance like he had to Shiro. He says this to the taller boy once, slumped against him after an unsuccessful attempt to locate their leader, and Lance laughs. He actually _ laughs _ , and as much as Keith likes to hear it and know that Lance can still laugh after everything that has happened, he straightens up to swat at Lance’s arm.

 

Lance gives him an apologetic glance that doesn’t really look all that apologetic at all. Keith frowns. “I’m serious.”

 

“I know, I know, sorry.” Keith waits for Lance to compose himself- it should  _ not _ take that long, but it’s Lance and there’s a light in his eyes that has gone dim far too often, and Keith doesn’t want it to dim again, not without good reason. Once the blue paladin has pulled himself together, though, Keith doesn’t hesitate in raising a questioning eyebrow at him. “You think you haven’t opened up to me?” Lance offers, as if that were supposed to make Keith  _ less _ confused. “Keith. You actually talk to me about stuff. It doesn’t matter that it isn’t, like, your deepest darkest fears. It still counts as ‘opening up.’” 

 

“It does?” 

 

Lance nods.

 

Keith is still thinking over his words that night, in the dull blue light of his room, unable to sleep.

 

=== 

 

They get Shiro back after almost two years, having been sidetracked by the arrival– and the subsequent defeat of a new Galra leader.They’re left, now, to clean up the mess that the Galra had made. Haggar is still out there too, wreaking havoc, but they haven’t seen much of her since the Galra prince’s loss. Keith had learned fairly quickly that, while powerful and near impossible to beat, Zarkon was far more preferable than Prince Lotor, who has a certain air about him that genuinely pisses Keith off. Even Haggar was better than the over-pretentious royal. He chooses to regale Lance with more of his increasingly creative insults  _ after _ Shiro is deemed ‘okay,’ though. A new scar runs down the length of his human arm, and there’s a dullness in his eyes that terrifies Keith. He doesn’t talk about the scar, and he doesn’t talk about what happened. He still fills the role of their leader, the head of Voltron, but there’s a noticeable edge to his pep talks and mid-battle speeches. It’s as if, in his time away from the team, he’s discovered a newfound source of motivation. Keith isn’t sure if that’s a good thing or not. He doesn’t press for details, but he knows Shiro is familiar with him and his habits, and he knows that Shiro can tell that he’s curious. 

 

“Matt,” Shiro says once, in response to the team’s questions. He doesn’t seem all that present when he says it, but Pidge seems to read something in his eyes, and her own fill with tears. 

 

“I need to leave,” she murmurs, and then she’s gone. It doesn’t take a genius to figure it out. The rest of the team files out slowly, Lance to comfort the youngest paladin and Hunk to help Coran clean the castle– stress relief? A distraction? He’s not as familiar with Hunk as he’s gotten with Lance, but he knows that their resident chef copes by keeping himself occupied. With the rest of the team having dispersed, Keith’s resolve cracks– he’s  _ impatient _ and this is the first hint they’ve gotten as to what Shiro went through. He’s figured it out too, he’s not stupid, but he needs to know the rest of the story. Shiro waits to tell him until the two of them are alone. They’re wandering the castle instead of sleeping, because Shiro hadn’t been sleeping well since Kerberos and had taken to simply not sleeping since his return after his most recent disappearance, and Keith hasn’t left him alone since he returned, for fear of losing him again. He hardly sleeps himself, and only then, if Pidge offers to take Shiro for a while. His sleep is nothing more than fitful naps, anyways, always full of nightmares and the emotions that he refuses to express while he’s awake. More than once, he wakes and angrily wipes tears from his face. Occasionally, it’s Lance that takes a shot at convincing him to rest, and it sets a hollow feeling in Keith’s chest as he resolutely refuses Lance’s efforts to help him, staying by Shiro’s side. He knows that the other man hates it, that he wants to fall back into their previous relationship- Keith being reckless, Keith being quiet, Keith overworking himself, and  _ Shiro _ taking care of him, but things are different now. Shiro is the one that needs taking care of, and as bad a brother as Keith has been over the years, he’s not going to let Shiro destroy himself.

 

“Matt?” Keith prompts, as the walk through one of the castle’s many corridors for the nth time. 

 

“My soulmate. It was Matt,” Shiro tells him. Keith stays quiet, waiting for him to continue. He knows what it means, that Shiro knows who his soulmate is.  _ Was _ . Shiro doesn't say anything for a moment, instead pulling up his sleeve to show Keith the tattoo.  _ Win the war for me. _ “He took on five, six sentries? He could’ve kept running. We could have made it out, both of us.” Keith doubts that. Shiro, clearly, does not. “I should have stopped him, Keith. I could have helped him.”

 

“You would have both been killed.”

 

“No. No, we could have made it out alive.” Shiro is insistent, and Keith is almost shocked to see the slight shine in Shiro’s eyes. He rarely sees Shiro cry, the tears usually kept at bay by Shiro’s determination to keep up the strong, put-together front as the ‘adult’ of their group. He bites his tongue and doesn’t argue, although he knows that, even with his Galra arm and whatever ‘improvements’ the druids had given to Matt, they wouldn’t have made it out alive, together. “I told Pidge we would get her family back. Instead, I got her brother killed.” He smiles bitterly, and Keith’s face pulls into a frown. 

 

“Shiro,” he starts. He’s cut off almost immediately. 

 

“No, Keith, it was my fault, I should have helped him.” 

 

He lets Shiro talk, then. And Shiro talked, told Keith everything, rambling about Matt and the Galra and all of his regrets, and it’s oddly reminiscent of the way they used to talk when they were at the Garrison together, when Shiro had a crush on the cute navigator with wild hair and Keith wanted to talk about the cargo pilot that he’d never spoken to but always stared at. It seemed so far away, yet, standing at one of the castle’s many windows, Keith can’t help but remember. He tells Shiro, when the older male is done speaking, and Shiro gives him a smile.

 

“Yeah. That was him, you know? The navigator.” Keith laughs, and nods- yeah, of course he knew it had been Matt. He’d spent enough time teasing Shiro about it that it would be a miracle if he didn’t remember the caramel-haired boy. That, and, of course, the fact that Pidge looked nearly identical to her brother. The connection hadn’t been a difficult one to make.

 

“You had your eye on him from day one,” Keith teased. How easy it was, to fall back into their old dynamic as if the war hadn't thrown their lives apart. Shiro seems to appreciate it, too, and Keith is glad to give him a distraction from the pressure of the universe’s expectations. 

 

“And the cargo pilot? Did you ever figure out who that was?” Well. Maybe Keith isn't  _ quite _ as glad, anymore. 

 

He feels his face flush, and that seems to be enough of an answer for his now-smirking brother. “Lance,” he says. It’s more of an embarrassed mumble than anything, really. Shiro nods, and Keith has to resist the urge to punch him in the shoulder.  

 

“Lance,” Shiro echoes. “Have you told him?” 

 

Keith sputters, shaking his head frantically. “God, no. What if he’s  _ not  _ my soulmate?” He gets an arched eyebrow and a few seconds of contemplative silence in response. 

 

“You won’t know until he’s gone. Better to take the risk, right?” Shiro is speaking in a hushed tone, then, and Keith feels bad for turning the conversation back to soulmates and Shiro’s loss, but his apologies are brushed off. “You’re scared. Understandable,” the older male says. He’s got the faraway look on his face again, though. “I’d confess if I were you, though. Words like the ones that you’ve got, in a situation like this…” Shiro trails off, and Keith drags the sleeve of his jacket up, staring at the words. “I think he misses you. I missed out on a lot of the team’s growth while I was gone, and I don't know what’s going on with the two of you, but I’m not blind.” He almost doesn’t hear Shiro, the words on his arm swirling through his head, Lance’s voice filling the space where it used to only be his own confused voice reciting them. The words  _ “I’m so sorry, Keith,” _ echoing through his mind in that voice, the voice that Keith translates into ‘I’m going to do something stupid that may result in more than the usual three or four days in the healing pod but you can’t stop me,’ except he knows those words will be the last ones he hears and– it sends a panicked feeling through his chest.

 

Shiro gives him a small shove, raising an eyebrow. He looks exhausted in every sense of the word, but their conversation seems to have done him a bit of good. “I’ll leave you with Pidge,” Keith murmurs, tugging his sleeve down once more. “You need to  _ sleep _ , Shiro. And then, once you can walk without needing someone nearby in case you pass out, only then will I confess.” 

 

Despite the residual traces of embarrassment at having his crush so blatantly and obviously called out, Keith still strides towards Lance’s room with a sense of purpose. He stalls in front of the door, though– he’s not there to confess, not yet. He’d never intended to, until Shiro had brought it up and put the concern in his head, where it seemed to have settled without any hope of disappearing. It’s true that, if Lance really is his soulmate, then the words on his arm are bound to mean something terrible. He realizes that, despite his apparently obvious attraction to the blue paladin, he actually doesn’t want Lance to be his soulmate. Not if it means that their story will end in tragedy. There’s a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach at the thought, and he briefly considers training instead, killing his muscles with the repetitive gladiator attacks instead of talking to Lance while the confusion of soulmates and destiny is still swirling through his head. The door slides open before he can make a decision, though, and the taller paladin is facing Keith with a raised eyebrow. 

 

“Hey, buddy. You’ve been standing out here for almost ten minutes– is everything okay?” Ten minutes. He’d been there for ten minutes? There’s a hand in front of his face, suddenly, and then Lance is rolling his eyes and pulling a startled Keith into his room. “What’s wrong? Keith, is everything okay?” 

 

No, it’s not. Nothing is okay. Between his lack of sleep and his conversation with Shiro, he simply wants to collapse and burst into tears. Two years of playing at being a leader have made it difficult, though, and he wants nothing more than he disappear into his own room to collapse and cry. He doesn't, opting instead to stay where he is, standing– swaying on his feet, really– in the doorway of the Blue Paladin’s bedroom, sure that Lance won’t let him leave in this state and unwilling to argue with him about it. “M’sorry,” Keith mumbles, eventually, because Lance looks almost scared, like he’s ready to shove him into a healing pod and that’s the last thing Keith needs. “Can I sleep in here? Just… just for tonight, I swear. I…”

 

Lance cuts him off. Or, rather, Keith stops speaking as Lance’s hands cup his face. Bright, worry-tinged blue eyes scan his face, and the silence drags on long enough that Keith’s eyes begin to slip closed. “Sleep wherever you want to, as long as you sleep.” The hands on his face are tugging, suddenly, falling to wrap around his wrists as Keith is pulled to the bed. Deft hands pull his jacket off, and then settle briefly on his back, pushing him down and settling a duvet over top of him. He offers no resistance– he can’t, not when the exhaustion is hitting him like a bulldozer driven by an irresponsible toddler with a personal vendetta against him. He looks up at the taller male through steadily closing eyes, mumbling a quiet “thank you” to Lance. 

 

When he wakes, it’s to dim blue lights and an empty room. His jacket hangs from a hook by the door, Lance’s much warmer jacket draped over his shoulders. He feels significantly more rested– although, at that point, it’s not as if that’s difficult to achieve. He stays where he is for a few more moments, intending to get up within the next five minutes and find Lance. 

 

He wakes– again, although he can’t remember slipping back into sleep– to Lance’s steady breathing next to him. After a few moments spent glancing around, Keith manages to locate the other paladin, feeling a surge of guilt as he spots Lance leaning against the bed, sitting on the floor. He pushes himself up, slipping quietly out of the bed and, after a moment’s hesitation, shoves his arms into the olive jacket. It’s warm, much warmer than Keith’s admittedly impractical cropped jacket. Lance looks as if he’s only been asleep for half an hour at most, and in Keith’s experience, he sleeps like the dead, so he assumes it should be safe to lift Lance into the bed. 

 

He’s just about dragged the other boy onto the mattress when the shrill sound on the alarm startles him. Lance drops to the floor, eyes snapping open immediately– he’s quicker to react than he had been when they'd first started, already almost three and a half years ago. For a brief moment, Lance looks confused. The expression is gone as quickly as it appears, though, and then he’s pulling Keith into the hallway and pushing him towards the hangars. “Go,” he instructs, and, as he usually is, Keith is dumbfounded at how easily Lance takes to being a leader. He’s a natural at it, unlike the smaller male with all of his impatience and recklessness. Really, it was Lance that deserved to lead Voltron in Shiro’s absence. 

 

The alarm blares even louder now, accompanied by Allura’s voice frantically urging them towards their lions, and Keith shakes himself out of his stupor to run through the castle. Lance follows him until they have to part ways at their respective hangars, giving him a reassuring smile and a teasing salute. The smile helps. It always does. It’s Lance’s way of reminding him that it’ll work out okay. He knows that the other paladin has does a similar thing with the rest of the team, finding ways to lift their spirits before a mission, and Keith is eternally grateful for it– especially because it actually seems to  _ work _ , most of the time. It works this time, as well, filling Keith with a solid belief that they’ll defeat whatever monster is thrown at them this time. 

 

Mere seconds after seeing the approaching robeast, Keith’s hope dissipates. They can’t defeat this monster. Across from the paladins, in their individual lions, is a carbon copy of Voltron. Fully formed and complete with a sword and shield, it is identical in every way save for the eyes. The lions’ eyes, which normally gleam yellow, are the stunning violet normally associated with the Galra. 

 

Shiro orders them to form Voltron, throwing a few reassurances and the vague outline of a plan into his pep talk, and Keith is struck by how much he’d fallen short as a leader with his sharp orders and inability to communicate. In the brief moment, Keith spares a glance at the video feed showing the other paladins. Shiro, despite still looking weary, appears to have gotten some rest. He’s about to comment on it when he sees it again, out of the corner of his eyes- that smile again, the small grin on Lance’s face that practically screams  _ “we’ve got this,”  _ and  _ “let’s win this fight,” _ and Keith can almost hear the blue paladin telling him that  _ “it’ll be okay,”  _ like he’d done after so many previous missions, during their talks amongst the holographic stars as Keith scrubbed furiously at tear-stained cheeks with bloodstained arms and Lance reassured him with soft words and softer touches as the last of his minor injuries were taken care of. A bandage across his upper arm, a washcloth wiping away the last traces of a Galra sentry, and a glimpse of the words on Lance’s wrist, hidden by his sleeve before Keith could read them- 

 

He is forcibly pulled from his reminiscing by a hit from the other Voltron. Shiro scolds him for getting distracted, and he mumbles an apology, shaking his head to clear it. He needs to focus. There are ideas being yelled through the comms, thoughts on how to take down their opponent when it moves and operates just as they do. There is a small blessing in that it doesn’t mirror their every move, but that doesn’t make it all that much easier to defeat. 

 

“What happens if we just attack it in it’s weak spots?” The suggestion comes from Hunk. “If it’s really just a copy of Voltron, shouldn’t we be able to find it’s weakest spots?” It’s a good idea, actually. Out of everyone in this fight, they’re the ones with the most knowledge of Voltron’s mechanisms and functions, as well as its weaknesses- which are few, definitely, and will hopefully give them an advantage.

 

“Hunk and I have done a lot of work on the lions,” Pidge cuts in, and Keith can practically hear the gears turning in her head. “I think we have a pretty good idea of where we would have to hit.” 

 

“Alright, we’ll give it a try.” Shiro’s agreement seems to spur Pidge into action, and she immediately begins pulling up screens that Keith knows she’d added to her lion in one of her upgrades. 

 

“I’m sending you guys a file, it should have all of Voltron’s abilities as well as its weaknesses. Some of the weak spots listed are just guesses based off of where the weak spots would be on an actual human- joints and stuff.” The file pops up on a screen and Keith glances it over briefly. “Some of them are just places that needed a bit of repair. Hunk and I listed them down anyway, for future reference- I’m not sure if fake-Voltron will be the exact same as ours, though, or if it’ll be modelled after the original.” 

 

“Guys-” Lance’s voice cuts through the comms, drawing their attention to the fast-approaching robot. “I hate to cut the party short, but we need to move!”

 

They manage to jump out of the way in time, just barely. Pidge is very obviously focused on the strategy portion of the mission, now, with Shiro shouting instructions through the microphone whenever the need to move a certain way. It takes several ticks before Pidge is back in the conversation, shouting at them to disband. “We can hit more of it’s weak spots if there are five of us.” There’s a split-second of hesitation on Shiro’s part, but then they’re being charged at again and he only has time to shout a hasty agreement before they’ve broken apart, lions scattering in five different directions only to spin around once more, circling the giant robot. 

 

A childhood version of Keith would have thought it looked cool, the individual lions with their separate colors floating in a circle around a hulking robot. It  _ was _ cool, sort of- until the fake-Voltron turns and begins shooting haphazardly at them. It’s at that moment that the fight becomes less strategy and more instinct, for Keith. He realizes belatedly that it was likely one of the things that made him such a bad leader- he stops thinking as he fights. He relies on his gut and the occasional instruction from one of the other paladins, and simply  _ fights _ . And fight he does, until there’s a crackle over the comms, followed immediately by a scream that turns Keith’s blood to ice. After a burst of static and a panicked mess of voices, he manages to confirm that it’s Hunk that took the hit- from the shoulder cannon that his lion provides, ironically enough- and that he’s not in any shape to keep fighting. 

 

“Pidge-” He starts to give an order out of habit, but he’s cut off when Shiro speaks over him. Oh, thank god, the most important decisions no longer rest on his shoulders. 

 

“Take him back to the castle, get him in a pod. We can hold out here!” 

 

Pidge nods and steers her lion towards Yellow, floating limp in the darkness. “Affirmative,” she calls, and then she’s gone. The fighting continues, and it all begins to blur together in a mess of attack, retreat, attack, shoot, avoid getting shot, and  _ noise, _ screams and shouts and the sound of metal screeching as their lions collide with the robot. 

 

“There!” Lance shouts. Keith frowns, spinning away from Voltron’s sword- his sword, that’s  _ his goddamn sword _ \- and lets his gaze flick down to the screen showing Lance’s face before the robot is back to demand his attention. “Back there, behind it,” is the only cryptic explanation, and it’s frustrating as hell because Keith can’t actually spare the time to look  _ behind _ it, when it seems dead set of annihilating him- Keith, specifically- with an imitation of his own weapon. 

 

Shiro’s acknowledgement only confuses Keith even more. “Yeah, I see it. Lance, do you think you can take it out?”

 

“What?” Keith’s growl cuts through the comms, interrupting Lance’s affirmation. “See what? I’m a little preoccupied, here. I can’t see shit except for this thing and the sword!” Lance has the audacity to snicker at that, and if he weren’t so busy trying not to die, Keith would have sent a warning shot in Lance’s direction. 

 

“A ship,” Shiro explains, much to Keith’s appreciation. “Galra. Small, and obviously equipped with a cloaking device, since it didn’t show up on our radar.” 

 

Lance joins the explanation, then, flying his lion alongside Keith’s in an attempt to guard him. It buys Keith time to spot the ship, at least. It’s hovering quite a ways away, but it wouldn’t take very long to reach it if they really tried. “I’d bet you five glasses of Nunvill that whatever controls this thing is in that ship- a power source or signal, or even a  _ person _ \- well, Galra, or something. Anyway, I’m gonna take it out!”

 

“You’re going to  _ what _ ? How?” Oh, no. The sword is back, and Keith has to slam his lion into Lance’s to get him out of the way. 

 

“I just scanned it- or, well, I tried to. Thanks for that, by the way.” Keith grunts in response, his focus on fake-Voltron again. “I should be able to get onto ship pretty easily. The bridge is… well, I can find it. If one of you fights Voltron and the other waits for me outside the ship, I should be able to…” He trails off, mumbling under his breath. 

 

“Until Pidge gets back, we’ll have to make do with the three of us,” Shiro instructs. “I’ll try and hold off the robot, if you want to act as Lance’s quick getaway.” It’s really not the time to be teasing Keith about his crush and he knows that Shiro is– or, should be mature enough to know that, but he still feels like it’s an order pulled from Shiro’s knowledge of Keith.

 

“I’ll send Blue back to the castle,” Lance calls. “Shiro, Keith, if you two could keep this thing occupied for a few seconds so I can get her away…” He pauses for a moment, and Keith doesn’t have to look to know that there’s a look of concentration on his face– the furrowed eyebrows and tongue poking out of his mouth as he focuses. “Keith, I’ll need you to swing by and pick me up– it’ll be faster than me trying to use my jetpack. You’ll fly me over to that ship, preferably from behind, and then I’ll sneak onboard to do my thing. You’re my getaway car, Keith. Or, getaway cat. Ha, get it? Because the lions– anyway. Shiro, you’ll be okay on your own?” 

 

There’s a beat of silence before Shiro responds, obviously surprised at how quickly Lance had come up with a plan- and how thought-out it seemed. It sends an inexplicable surge of pride through Keith. “Uh. Yeah. Yeah, I’ll hold out just fine. Keith, you’ll need to get to Lance as quickly as possible. The less chance he has of being shot with no easy means of escape, the better.” 

“Thanks, boss.” Lance’s mock salute is met with smiles and a laugh from Shiro. “We’ll need to move quickly. You two keep up the defense. I’ll let you know when to come and get me, Keith.” There are murmurs of agreement from the two other paladins, and that’s it. They have some semblance of a plan, and they’re ready to go. 

 

As per Lance’s instructions, Keith and Shiro continue to hold off the fake-Voltron as Lance coaxes Blue back to the castle. His voice is crackling through Keith’s helmet soon enough, coordinates being transmitted to his lion. He has to wait for Shiro to distract the robot before he slips away, seeking out the blue paladin. He’s fairly easy to find, waving his arms around to catch Keith’s attention.

 

Lance is quick to slip into the lion, thanking Keith and standing behind his seat as they head towards the ship. “Swing around the back,” he orders, and Keith has learned by now that Lance is far more competent than he is at anything strategic, so he does as asked without argument. “Okay, let me out. Stay here and keep your helmet on so you can hear me. I’ll let you know when I’m ready to get out of there. Oh! Try to keep the ship from getting hit, too. I don’t need it to blow up while I’m still on board. You got that, Keith?”

 

“Yeah. Wait here, don’t let that thing blow you up. I got it.” He opens his lion and watches as Lance drifts towards the ship. It almost feels like an ending, or some sort of goodbye, and Keith shudders. He’ll confess after this mission. He won’t risk losing his chance to any more fights. 

 

“Hey, Lance?” The paladin turns to him, and Keith can just barely make out the confused expression on his face. He hesitates, then, swallowing before he whispers into the comms.  “Be careful.” 

 

There’s a small huff, and the blue-and-white figure nods. “I will, don’t worry. You’re not getting rid of me  _ that _ easily.” Despite Lance’s words, Keith still can’t seem to shake the uncomfortable feeling that all of this will end in disaster. There’s nothing that he can do about it, though. Not when Lance is already speeding towards the ship, and Shiro is attacking the robot with a relentless vigor that, if Keith were to guess, is likely fuelled by a need to avenge Matt. All he can do at this point is guard the ship and wait, staying where he is until Lance returns. Wait for victory, or wait for tragedy, he doesn’t quite know. 

 

It takes around half an hour for everything to go to shit. It feels like half an hour, at least. Half an hour of everything seemingly going well. Half an hour of Shiro’s increasingly successful fight against fake-Voltron, aided by Lance’s steady dismantling of the ship. Half an hour before Lance’s voice echoes through Keith’s helmet. 

“Get out! Keith!” He spins his lion around, confused and expecting to see the blue paladin flying towards him. There’s nothing but the Galra ship and empty space. 

 

His grip tightens on the controls. “Lance?” There’s rustling, and a few shrill beeps. “Lance, where are you? What are you doing?”

 

“I- I don’t know!” Gone is his self-assured, confident tone. Lance sounds panicked, the high-pitched beeping is still ringing out in the background. “There was- I don’t know what it was, Keith, but it set off an alarm and this thing is gonna blow at any second!” Keith goes to speak, to ask Lance  _ where the fuck he is _ but he’s interrupted, cut off by Lance’s shouting. “Get out! Go!” 

 

He keeps circling the ship, gritting his teeth as he tries to locate Lance. “Where are you?” Keith repeats it over and over, waiting for a response that he can hear over the alarms, which seem to be increasing in volume. Or perhaps that’s his own ears ringing. The tracker in Lance’s suit is going haywire, and Keith can’t figure out where he is- he can hardly think past the panic and the memory of his earlier conversation with Shiro. 

 

“Keith? Keith, listen to me!” He nearly sobs in relief when he hears Lance’s voice. “I can’t disable it. The ship is going to- to, I don’t know, explode. Or implode. It’ll stop the robot, though! There’s a- a lock on the doors, so you- you have to go, now, and get Shiro back to the castle.” Well, shit. He’s not sobbing in relief, anymore. Lance keeps talking, his words frequently cut off by hiccuping sobs, and Keith wants to tear apart the ship to find him, but he doesn’t want to accidentally crush him. “There’s no way I can get out in time, Keith. You have to leave me behind, I’m sorry, I- I can’t unlock the doors, it’s kicked me out of the system, and I’m- I’m not Pidge, I can’t get back in-” Keith growls and has to mentally stop Red from slamming into the ship lest she hit Lance in the process.

 

“I’m not leaving you behind. Tell me where you are and I will tear this ship to pieces to get you out,” he hisses. He hears the beginning of a protest, cutting Lance off to continue. “You don’t have to do the brave thing, or the noble thing. Send me your location and let me save you, stupid!”

 

“Hey,” Lance murmurs, and his voice has gone quiet. It’s similar to the tone he has when he’s reminiscing about his family, although Keith can still hear the alarms in the background and the sniffles interspersed between breaths. “I was talking to Shiro earlier. He mentioned something about a crush you had, back at the Garrison?” There’s a small, bitter laugh, and Keith is frozen in his seat. “If only I’d known. We could’ve made the most of our time together, instead of- this. Not- not that I had any problems with what we had, but, well. I was hoping I could have at least  _ kissed _ you, just once.” 

 

“I love you,” he chokes out. He needs to find Lance. He has to, even if it means dismantling the ship piece by piece, he’ll find him. “I was supposed to tell you after the mission. I was going to, I swear. Lance, please, where are you? I can’t lose you. I- I lost Shiro twice already, I can’t lose you too.” 

 

“Heh, I knew you loved me. Who knew it would take my dying to get you to admit it?” There’s a cough and the alarm speeds up, the incessant beeping coming in shorter intervals. “Oh, well, looks like my time is running out. You have to get Shiro, Keith. I can’t reach him from here, it’s too far or, or my helmet is broken, I dunno. It doesn’t really matter what’s causing it, but I guess you’re getting the goodbye. M’glad I can say this to you directly, though.” No, this can’t be happening. Keith’s vision blurs and it takes him a minute to realize that he’s crying. “I love you too, Mullet, you know? And as much as I’d love to tell you where I am, there isn’t enough time, so you’ll have to save yourself.” He takes a few gasping breaths, trying to calm himself down enough to speak, but Lance keeps talking and all he can do is listen. “Stop. Please. Stop trying to talk, stop trying to respond. You already said them. The- the words- my words, you said them already, and if I die here, then I want to go out believing that you’re my soulmate, okay? Don't.. don’t ruin that for me.” There’s a brief moment of pause, and all Keith can hear is the sound of his heartbeat echoing in his ears and the goddamn alarm that seems to be getting shriller, presumably as the ship gets closer to self-destructing with Keith’s  _ soulmate  _ inside. “Red? Get him out of here.” Red? Why is Lance talking to Red? A second later, it clicks. Keith and Black may not have been compatible, but Red had taken a liking to Lance and now, despite Keith’s pounding against the controls to turn her around, she follows Lance’s order and slowly drifts away from the Galra ship. “Check Blue’s logs when you get back.” The alarm is almost ear-splitting through his helmet, loud enough that he almost misses Lance’s last words. Not that he needs to hear them– they’re printed neatly on his arm, after all. 

  
“I’m so sorry, Keith.”

**Author's Note:**

> ps you can hmu on [tumblr](www.keplcrs.tumblr.com) and if you're following the bmc apocalypse au that im working on then i promise chapter 3 will be out soon because we're working on it but we're both super busy


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